Alamo Traces (40 page)

The
Register
list had been compiled by John W. Smith and Gerald Navan. Smith was the Alamo's storekeeper who guided the March 1 reinforcement into the Alamo and had departed the Alamo twice as a courier to Gonzales. Navan had been a clerk in the Bexar garrison, working
under Green B. Jameson, the Alamo engineer. They created the roll over a three-week period after the fall of the Alamo. The roster was probably based on their own knowledge and interviews with other individuals who had knowledge of who was in the Alamo or who had attempted to enter the Alamo during the thirteen-day siege. If Louis Rose was not in the Alamo on March 3, how is it that Smith and Navan could have believed he had died at the Alamo? If the name of Rose on the
Register
list does represent Louis Rose, how can one explain the mistake, other than Rose having escaped the Alamo as claimed by Zuber?
⁴⁰

One explanation is, as with Stephen Rose and B. M. Clark, that Louis Rose participated in the March 4 reinforcement. The
Register
roster has one other identification error, “F. Desauque, of Philadelphia.” De Sauque was not a member of the Alamo garrison. He, however, participated in the March 4 reinforcement of the Alamo. After the fall of the Alamo, De Sauque rejoined Fannin's command and was later executed with the Goliad men.
⁴¹

Also, Louis Rose being a member of the March 4 relief force explains the inconsistent character of his testimony in the cases of David Wilson (“3 Day of March 1836 then he was in the Alimo”), Charles Haskell (“supposes him killed in the Alimo”), John Blair (“left him in the Alimo 3 March 1836”), and F. H. K. Day (“died with Travis at the Alimo”). If Rose and the men had been members of the March 4 relief force, Rose's final experience with each man could have been different. Perhaps he actually saw Blair, Day, and Wilson enter the Alamo but did not see Haskell make it into the fort. Thus, in regard to the Blair statement, if Louis had participated in the March 4 reinforcement, he could have left John Blair and David Wilson “in the Alamo” and still not have been in the Alamo himself. Also, such a circumstance explains why Isaac Lee would have believed that John Blair had “died while absent in the service of Texas on or about fifth of March 1836.” An estimate that is identical to the estimate found in Nacogdoches County probate records for M. B. [B. M.] Clark's Alamo death.
⁴²

Moreover, another fact worthy of note is that F. H. K. Day entered with the Gonzales ranger company. Blair, Haskell, and Wilson may have also been part of the March 4 Alamo reinforcement. The three men appear to have been in the Alamo on February 1, 1836, which suggests they did not enter with a reinforcement. A number of men, however, were discharged by Lt. Colonel James C. Neill on February 14, 1836. At
least three of the men, John Harris, Robert White, and John Ballard, returned to the Alamo as reinforcements. White and Harris made it into the Alamo and died. Ballard was separated from the group and survived. Thus, it is possible that Louis and Stephen Rose knew of the men they testified for because Louis, Stephen, and the men were among the sixty men from Gonzales and Mina who reinforced the Alamo.
⁴³

While the evidence for this Rose/reinforcement interpretation will be less than conclusive for many “Moses Rose” true believers, the interpretation also suggests an explanation for another puzzling element of the Alamo story. That being the two men (one badly wounded) who appear to have survived the fall of the Alamo and rode to Nacogdoches to report the tragic event. Perhaps the two men were Louis and Stephen Rose, and they were father and son. Maybe Stephen later died from his severe wounds or for some other reason. Thus he disappeared from the historical record after his testimony for the M. B. Clark estate.
⁴⁴

1
R. B. Blake, “A Vindication of Rose and His Story,” in J. Frank Dobie, Mody C. Boatright, and Harry H. Ransom, eds.,
In the Shadow of History
(reprint; 1939, Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1980), 32.

2
Author unknown, “Tour Guide History Talk,” The Alamo, San Antonio. Thanks to Bruce Winders, the Alamo historian and curator, who obtained a copy of the history talk script for this writer. The Zuber/Rose part reads: “Unsheathing his sword during a lull in the virtually incessant bombardment on March 5, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground before his battle-weary men. In a voice trembling with emotion he described the hopelessness of their plight and said, ‘Those prepared to give their lives in freedom's cause, come over to me.' Without hesitation, every man, save one, crossed the line. Colonel James Bowie, stricken with pneumonia, asked that his cot be carried over.”

Alamo tour guides, however, have been known to alter the story. Writer Stephen Harrigan informed me that when he visited the Alamo in March 1997, the tour guide, who gave the history talk, claimed that Moses Rose's departure from the Alamo so enraged General Santa Anna that he decided to immediately storm the fort.

3
Lord,
A Time
, 202.

4
Tyler, Barnett, Barkley, Anderson, Odintz, eds.,
The New Handbook of Texas
, I: 579-580; R. B. Blake to Dr. E. W. Winkler, April 3, 1936, Nacogdoches, J. Frank Dobie to R. B. Blake, May 10, 1938, Austin, R. B. Blake to J. Frank Dobie, May 13, 1938, Nacogdoches, R. B. Blake Papers, CAH.

5
Dobie, Boatright, and Ransom, eds.,
In the Shadow of History
, 33-34.

6
Ibid., Zuber, “An Escape From the Alamo”; Dobie, Boatright, and Ransom, eds.,
In the Shadow of History
, 32.

7
R. B. Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 204-205, CAH. The Center for American History at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas has two Blake collections: R. B. Blake's Papers and ninety-three bound volumes of Blake's typewritten transcriptions. The Blake Transcriptions, LXIV: 1-3, contain a second reference to Teal having died at the Alamo. Blake wrote: “The official records of Nacogdoches County give the following as those from Nacogdoches who died on that occasion [fall of the Alamo]: Capt. William Blazely of the New Orleans Greys, Dr. Edward F. Mitchueson, Charles Haskel, John Blair, David Wilson, F. H. K. Day, Marcus Sewell, John Harris, Micaijah Autry, Henry Teal, M. B. Clark, Bluford Mitchell, and James Taylor.” The names are correct, except for Henry Teal and Bluford Mitchell. Application number 732 for William Baker found in Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 225 identifies Mitchell as the administrator of Baker's estate. Just how Blake came to believe Mitchell died at the Alamo is unknown and hard to understand.

8
Webb, Carroll, and Branda, eds.,
Handbook
, II: 718; A. Huston to Sam Houston, March 5, 1836, Nacogdoches, Jenkins, ed.,
Papers
, IV: 517; G. W. Hockley to Thomas J. Rusk, March 23, 1836, Camp near Beeson's on the Colorado River, Jenkins, ed.,
Papers
, V: 167.

9
Lewis Rose file, Number 7117, Court of Claims records, Archives, GLO.

10
Ibid.

11
Thomas Lloyd Miller,
The Public Lands of Texas 1519-1970
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972), 32-33.

12
Dobie, Boatright, and Ransom, eds.,
In the Shadow of History
, 31.

13
Miller,
The Public Lands
, 29-30.

14
Character Certificate Collection, Archives, GLO; Character Certificate Collection, Nacogdoches Archives, TSL.

15
Dobie, Boatright, and Ransom, eds.,
In the Shadow of History
, 34; Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 156.

16
Ibid.; Number 106, “Proceeding of Land Commissioners,” RHRD #114, Nacogdoches County Records, East Texas Research Center, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas, hereafter referred to as ETRC. This collection is one of two collections that contain the original holographic records of testimony given to the land commissioners. The other collection is the “Rough Minutes” of the board. Both collections, despite different titles, appear to be the same kind of record—the original notes made in regard to testimony given by individuals before the board. Often it is hard to determine just what Blake saw and used as his sources. Blake, however, cited the “Proceedings of Nacogdoches County Board of Land Commissioners” as his source for the Louis Rose statements. One assumes that Blake's sources were the original handwritten documents. The one original Nacogdoches board document pertaining to F. H. K. Day that this writer located identifies the Day headright application as number 106. Yet Blake claimed he saw a record of the testimony that identified the application as number 125. This writer could not find an original record of the testimony for the Day application as reflected in Blake's transcript of the alleged document.

17
F. H. K. Day first class headright grant – Fannin I-973, GLO; W. W. J. Smith affidavit, June Session, 1839, and Thomas S. Grubbs affidavit, July 7, 1840, Horce Eggleston affidavit, January 3, 1841, found in probate Number 21, Gonzales County Probate records, Archives, Gonzales County Courthouse, Gonzales, Texas.

18
F. H. K. Day unfinished Spanish land grant, number 83:5, GLO;
Telegraph and Texas Register
, March 24, 1836; Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 225.

19
Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 158.

20
Ibid.

21
Number 203, “Proceeding of Land Commissioners,” RHRD #114, ETRC.

22
Dobie, Boatright, and Ransom, eds.,
In the Shadow of History
, 29; John E. Rose character certificate, number 91:16, Character Certificate collection, GLO; James H. Starr to John P. Borden, Land Commissioner, February 14, 1838, Nacogdoches, General Land Office Correspondence Collection, Archives Division, TSL; Louis Rose character certificate, 1835.

23
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, “The Story of The Alamo, Thirteen Fateful Days in 1836,” a small information sheet given out at the Alamo that contains the official list of Alamo defenders.

24
Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 162.

25
Number 259, “Rough Minutes – Board of Land Commissioners,” RHRD #112, ETRC.

26
Isaac Lee petition for letters of administration of the John Blair estate, April 11, 1837, and Isaac Lee petition for letters of administration of the John Blair estate, April 2, 1846, transcriptions found in John Blair folder, Box 3G299, Blake Papers, CAH. Given that these documents are Blake's typewritten transcriptions, the 1835 date might be a typing error.

27
Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 163.

28
Ibid., 165.

29
Number 427, “Proceeding of Land Commissioners,” RHRD, #114, ETRC.

30
Telegraph and Texas Register
, March 24, 1836.

31
David Wilson bounty land grant, Milam B-788, GLO; David Wilson donation land grant, Nacogdoches D-662, Milam, D-781, Duplicate Certificate Voucher 1927, GLO; David Wilson first class headright grant, Travis 1-60, Duplicate Certificate voucher 292, GLO; Henning et al. v. Wren et al., Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, May 27, 1903,
Southwestern Reporter
, Vol. 75, 905-911.

32
Goliad Declaration of Independence, December 20, 1835, Goliad, Jenkins, ed.,
Papers
, III: 269; Alamo voting list, February 1, 1836; J. C. Neill Alamo Return, Muster Roll book, 20.

33
Telegraph and Texas Register
, March 24, 1836; David Willson Character Certificate, number 542, Nacogdoches Archives, TSL.

As to the true identity of the Alamo David Wilson, Ms. Bette Whitley of Seguin, Texas (Whitley to Lindley, June 20, 1989, Seguin, author's Alamo files) furnished this writer the following information from J. S. Powell, “A Biographical Sketch of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Powell.” Mr. Powell wrote that his grandfather, James Powell, born 1774, “came to Tennessee and married a Widow Allen, who had one child, a son. . . . The Widow Allen was of a family by the name of Spence. A sister, another of the Spence family, married a Mr. Wilson. A son, David Wilson, was one of those killed in the Alamo.” Perhaps, Mrs. _____ Spence Wilson's son was the true Wilson at the Alamo.

34
Blake Transcriptions, LXI: 166.

35
Number 579, “Proceedings of the Land Commissioners,” RHRD, #114, ETRC.

A second record of the Sewell testimony is found in a large ledger book titled
A Book Containing the applicant's name and the evidence of his or her residence in the county, Nacogdoches, Texas June, 1835
in the archives of the Nacogdoches County Courthouse, Nacogdoches, Texas. Those records were published in Carolyn Reeves Ericson,
Nacogdoches Headrights
, 22. The entries in both the ledger book and the Ericson book show that the Sewell witnesses were John Dorsett and Adolphus Sterne. No Louis Rose is identified as a witness for the Sewell estate. Either Blake made a huge mistake in his note taking or he misrepresented the Sewell application to include Rose as a witness.

36
Telegraph and Texas Register
, March 24, 1836; Muster Roll book, 20-28, 104; Alamo voting list, February 1, 1836; John Chenoweth's Muster Roll, February 1836. See Chapters Three and Four for the story of the March 4, 1836 reinforcement of the Alamo.

37
B. M. Clark to Jesse Burnam, January 2, 1836, AMC-TSL; Sam Houston to P. S. Wyatt, December 28, 1835, Washington-on-the-Brazos, Jenkins, ed.,
Papers
, III: 351; Webb, Carroll, and Branda, eds.,
Handbook
, II: 940; John Chenoweth muster roll, February 1836. The Burnam document reads: “B. M. Clark a volunteer attached to Col. Wyatts command owes Jesse Burnam three dollars to be taken out of his monthly pay.”

38
Telegraph and Texas Register
, March 24, 1836; Groneman,
Alamo Defenders
, 94.

39
Number 259, “Rough Minutes”; Number 427, “Proceedings of the Land Commissioners”; Probate Minutes, Nacogdoches, Vol. B, 61-62. The probate record shows that George Pollett was appointed administrator of the estates of David Wilson and Charles Haskell and obtained an order to sell their real estate. Thomas J. Rusk, Isaac Lee, and Charles S. Taylor testified that Haskell had been a citizen of Nacogdoches previous to March 2, 1836. Adolphus Sterne claimed that Wilson owed him $15.00. Pollett said Wilson or his estate owed him $30.00.